New SCHEV Peer Group

State Council for Higher Education in Virginia Assigns George Mason University to New Peer Group

The State Council for Higher Education in Virginia (SCHEV) has for the last 20 years used a customized peer group for each college and university in the state to benchmark faculty salaries. The peer group is used to set a target for each institution's overall faculty salary average to reach the 60th percentile of its peers.

At the last review for all universities in 1997, Mason was placed among a peer group of 24 universities from around the country that were considered comparable to Mason, using criteria such as the Carnegie classification of higher education institutions, student demographics, faculty preparation, and academic program offerings. In the past 10 years, Mason has changed considerably.

In spring 2007, SCHEV reviewed Mason's peer group, and, with input and suggestions from Mason staff, developed a new peer group of 25 institutions, with 14 new institutions substituted. During this year’s peer selection process, Mason staff focused more on criteria that reflect how the institution has changed, using such measures as enrollment, percentage of graduate degrees awarded and doctoral degrees awarded, and research funding. SCHEV will use the new peer group to re-evaluate the 60th percentile salary target for Mason.

Significant aspects of the new peer group:

• For the first time, two universities located in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area are included (George Washington University and the University of Maryland, College Park), providing a comparable cost of living base.
• Many of the institutions added to the list are located in other urban areas around the country. These include Boston University, Northeastern University, University of Houston, and University of Memphis.

More information on the new peer group can be accessed at Mason's Office of Institutional Research and Reporting web site.